Category Archives: Personal Growth

3 Leadership Lessons I’ve Learned From Making All The Mistakes: Lesson 1 – Complete Communication

Guest post in our leadership series. I met Paul Pickard, CTO for Korrus, a few months ago, and am so impressed by his appreciation of the human aspects of leading technical teams. Enjoy! – Kimberly

I’ve been meeting people on LunchClub for the past year or so, and it’s given me the opportunity to connect with people with diverse interests and backgrounds from different locations around the country and world.  I was recently speaking with an early career software engineer who was mulling over an opportunity to move into a position where she managed people.  She asked me for my “top of mind” things to I’ve learned about managing people in my career.  After explaining that anything I could relate would come from having made all the mistakes – some of them repeatedly – I came up with three core intentions that I’ve adopted over the years and passed them along.  I say intentions because I don’t always exhibit these behaviors, but it is certainly my aspiration to do so.  This post covers the first intention.  I’ll follow up with the other two in subsequent posts.

#1: Communicate Completely

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Shocking Ways Personal Brands Will Make You a Better Leader

Guest post in our leadership series. Enjoy! – Kimberly

Shocking Ways Personal Brands Will Make You a Better Leader creates a thoughtful perspective on the future of leadership development.

After decades worth of studying leadership development and career advancement, there is a powerful truth that presents itself. Anyone in a leadership role that wants to be a better leader should understand this basic principle. Shocking ways personal brands will make you a better leader is the easiest way to command attention from a team regardless of how many people you lead.

Let’s look at leadership from two main perspectives. The first perspective is the individual perspective. This is otherwise known as a personal brand. The second perspective is the collective or team where each individual contributor adds to the greater whole. Somewhere in the middle is where it seems to go off the rails. Good leaders can get distracted when they need to keep it simple. The shocking truth is that being a better leader is easier when you focus on personal brands. Here’s how we do it!

The basic objective in leadership is to get the individual contributors to effectively and productively work toward the common goal with less effort. Turning this complicated task into a simple solution is easy. The right approach leads to simplicity. Let’s consider the shocking ways personal brands will make you a better leader by focusing on personal brands.

Shockingly Simple Ways to Use a Personal Brand to Lead

Anyone in a leadership position may already know the difficulty that comes when leading teams of individual contributors. The bigger the team, the more difficult the task. Using a simple approach repeatedly makes you a better leader.Continue reading→

Common Roots: Shifting Context – Leadership Springs from Within

What does a rubber chicken like this one? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have to do with a book like this one?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, Kimberly Wiefling (rubber chicken lady) met Linda Alepin (now author of above book) when they started their study of generative leadership as young professionals.  

Kimberly was inspired by the principles of vision, listening, and dreaming to become widely known in the leadership arena, particularly working with innovative Japanese companies.  

Linda took the same principles into industry, academia, founding a not for profit that worked with hundreds of people around the globe and, finally, to this book.  

Join Linda as the author (and Kimberly as a participant) on Friday, February 4 from 8:00 AM to 9:30 AM PST (GMT -8).  You will hear stories of people from around the world who are featured in the book. 

It’s FREE.  Register at bit.ly/shifting-context-launch.

Shifting Context:  Leadership Springs from Within is available for pre-sale at Amazon https://amzn.to/3IHdJFS.  

Here is what Rayona Sharpnack had to say about the book:

“Shifting Context: Leadership Springs from Within is an important book at an important time in history. Research consistently shows that countries who seriously invest in women’s and girls’ empowerment get a dramatic return on their investment financially, socially, and in all ways that matter for a civil society. 

The women featured in this book are exemplars of that important investment! 

The book will inspire you, move you, and remind you of the hidden power that women have to make all of our lives better. Kudos to Linda and Barbara for their essential leadership in this movement for social entrepreneurship!”

 —Rayona Sharpnack, Founder/CEO at Institute for Gender Partnership and Women’s Leadership, Inc. 

These true stories of sheroes and heroes from around the world will inspire you.  They demonstrate how leadership that springs from within brings about real social change. 

If you are a passionate leader who wants to create greater impact do not miss this book launch and be sure to read the book. 

How to Prepare for Leadership Positions

Contributed article in our leadership series. Enjoy! – Kimberly

With several years of professional experience under your belt, a time will come when you feel you need to take your career to the next level and assume a leadership role in the organization you are working for.

This is when you now understand the complexities of the business and you have grown in your career to feel ambitious enough to lead other people. Of course, you need to back up your ambitions with a history of stellar performance otherwise no one will take you seriously. Even if you rise to the level you want, your subordinates won’t give you the respect that the office you hold deserves.

You need prepare well before you assume leadership roles.

Attitude Adjustment

Start working on your attitude if you want to be a leader. Attitude is the first signal that you are ready for the altitude. Do you sulk when given roles beyond your job description? If yes, then you need to change your attitude.

Does your boss know that he/she can assign you tasks and trust that you will complete them with minimal supervision? Do things that bothered you before; like impromptu tasks no longer bother you? In fact, you even find yourself more flexible these days and somehow understand that the only constant thing is change. If you no longer take last minute requests and disruptions from your boss personally you are well on your way there.Continue reading→

How To Get Motivated To Achieve

Contributed article in our business series. Enjoy! – Kimberly

Motivation is the reason you get out of bed in the morning. You’re motivated to go to work and earn money to enjoy living. Sometimes this motivation can suffer a setback and not always because of a perceivable reason. There isn’t always one clear reason why your levels of motivation dip, and it can be the culmination of a few factors. For the times when you can’t quite put your finger on the cause, you’re best off to implement a healthy lifestyle and to get out and enjoy your time more often. As the saying goes, “All work and no play makes Jack a sad boy,” so endeavor to enjoy yourself as well as work hard. You need to maintain a balance if you’re going to stay motivated and determined to succeed.Continue reading→

What Makes a Boss Great?

Contributed article in our leadership series. Enjoy! – Kimberly

Being a good boss is essential if you want your team to work well. Becoming a great boss takes time and experience, but there are some things to remember that will help you. When the boss of a company is amazing, the work that is done for that boss is amazing too.

Passion

A great boss must be passionate about the company, the team, and the work that is done. They must love the products and services that are sold, and they must show that passion in everything they do. A boss who doesn’t care, or who is unsatisfied with their job, is very demotivating, and can lead to employees not caring either. If no one cares about the company, customers will soon sense that and stay away.Continue reading→

The Importance of Reaching the Goals You Set

Contributed article in our personal growth series. Enjoy! – Kimberly

While everyone knows just why it is important to set goals, does anyone ever stop to think about just why it is important to reach those goals we set? Whether from a business perspective or for personal growth, it is understood that the easiest and surest way to get where we want to be is through setting goals, but that is only the easy answer when it comes to why we want to reach those goals. Consider just what goals do for us and then you’ll begin to understand just how important it is to reach them.

See Them as Stepping Stones and You’ll Never Stop Growing

While we are told to always set both long and short term goals, did you ever stop to think about why we want to set short term goals other than for the fact that they are easy to attain? Continue reading→

Wellbeing Doesn’t Always FEEL . . . well . . . WELL!

Here’s how I’m facing this year’s daunting challenges. Who’s in? – Kimberly

With all of the hatred unleashed in the 2016 US elections, I’ve been struggling to regain my send of wellbeing. Then I remembered . . .

WELLBEING ISN’T NECESSARILY EASY. Sometimes I fret that “wellbeing” will be misinterpreted as “Life should always be easy.” How dull would that be?!! My work mostly involves tackling challenges that most people claim are very difficult, highly unlikely, or darned near impossible, and I find the work absolutely exhilarating! Yes, I feel quite “well” when I’m in the midst of such circumstances, meeting tough challenges while shaking in my boots, staying committed to results that seem unattainable. Wahoo! For me, wellbeing isn’t endless days of paddling a lazy canoe toward my ultimate resting place (RIP). While I sometimes enjoy the tranquility of a quiet stream, I’m sure I’d go completely bonkers if I had to experience peace, calm and tranquility every moment of my life. Truly.Continue reading→

Tips to Cultivate Willpower to Manage Finances & Build Wealth

WealthContributed article in our personal wealth series. Enjoy! – Kimberly

In football, the best coaches and coordinators with the sharpest playbook and most advanced plays won’t win games if their team can’t execute the plays. Taking care of your finances and building wealth are similar. A plethora of free knowledge is available from the experts regarding building wealth and achieving success, but few have the willpower and discipline to do what it takes.

But the good news is that willpower is a skill, not some genetic trait. There are ways to train your mind and learn from the best to climb your way to the top.

Finance is a Mental Game

Whether you’re building your first savings account, paying off credit cards or building a successful business, finances are almost always a mental game. Think of financial success in relation to diet and exercise — you can read every blog, hire every trainer and take every supplement — but unless you can actually execute, there won’t be any results.Continue reading→

5 Sure-fire Ways to Advance in Your Career

Business woman walking into arrow shaped door with bright light

Contributed article in our business series. Enjoy! – Kimberly

Whether you are seeking to climb the corporate ladder within your industry or looking for a new position with another company, there are ways in which you can advance quickly with just a little effort. Becoming proactive in your goals lets you take the reins, and before you know it that coveted position can be yours. Here are 5 sure-fire ways to advance in your career.

1. Networking for Meaningful Connections

There are so many ways in which to network that surely you can find one in which to make the connections you are looking for. From social media to volunteering in a cause that is meaningful to you, there are ways to meet new connections who are able to help you advance within your career. These may be executives of companies within your industry or peers who know of open positions. Besides making an impact on your community, society today is oriented towards ‘doing good’, and your volunteer hours logged will surely impress your boss!Continue reading→